Conveying apparatus



April 29, 1924. AQY@ N. D. LVIN CONVEYING APPARATUS original Filed Jan". 18. 1919 3 sheets-sheet;

NN. 50 NN pri 29, 1924. 3,492,07@

N. D. LEvlN CONVEYING APPARATUS Original Filed Jan. 18. 1919 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTR` WITNESSES:

c. MAM

NILS D. LEVN, OF COLUMBUS, OHIO, ASSIGNOR T0 THE AJl'llL'FFREY MANUFACTUBHG COMPANY, 0F COLUMBUS, OHIO, CORPORATION OHIG.

CGNVEYING application mea January is, 1919, sum1 no. avisas. nenewea my' ec, was.

To all whom it may concern: 1

Be it known that I, Nrns D'. Lnvrn a citizen of the United States, residin at' olumbus, in the county of Frank and State of- Ohio, have inventedl certain new and useful Improvements in Conveying A paratus, of which the following is a spec' cation, reference being had therein lto the accompanying drawin The resent inventlon relates to certain new an useful im rovements in' conveying apparatus adapte to transfer loose mae terial from the floor of a mine to the ,pit cars by which it may be transported from the mine.

when the vein from-which een is' a be mined is extremely thin it is'customar if geological conditions will permit, to crm roadways of suiicient height for the convenient passage of thev miners, and for the haulage of the' pit cars by which the coal is transported fromfthc mine, by takingun material from the underlying stratum. t is undesirable, because of the increased cost of mining, to extend these roadways into the rooms where the principal mining operations Aare performed, and conveyers of various typos have been proposed to' transfer loose material from the ever receding working face'to pit cars standing upon the trackslin the entries. 4

My present invention relates particularly to conveying apparatus, adapted to use under conditions'such as are abovevdescribed, comprising an endless cable arranged to travel around suitably positioned guide -sheaves,and to propel conveniently attached conveying scraper-s whereby the broken down coal may be gathered from the door of the mine adjacent the working face and deposited in pit cars conveniently positioned uponthe tracks in the mine entries.

One object of my invention is to provide,

` in an apparatus of the class described, iniproved mechanism whereby the endless cable may be propelled and by which more or less of itslength may be held in reserve to permit the convenient extension ci the conveyer as the Working face recedes from the entry.

A further object. is to provide improved conveying Scrapers adapted'to gather and transport material as they move iorwardl towards the mine entry .and to avoid suc material as they move' rearwardly towards gather a load.

A4 further object is to provide improved automatically disengaging means for attach in 1the conveying Scrapers to the propelling ca e. t

These and other objects are fully set forth in the following specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings of which- Fig. ll is a plan view of a portion of u. coal mine equipped with my improvedconve ing-apparatus.

ig. 2 is a vertical section Ithrough said coal rnine showing an elevation of the -apvparatus illustrated in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a plan view, on an enlarged scale, of the propelling mechanism shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

Fig. 4 is a side elevation, partly in section, of the devices illustrated in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a planV view, on an enlarged scale,

of one of my improved conveyin Scrapers. Figi 6 is a side elevation lof the scraper` illustrated in Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a rear end elevation o the scraper illustrated in Figs. 5' and 6. l l

Fig. 8 is ari-end view of one of the cable gripping clamps by which the scrapers'are connected with the 'propellin cable.

Fig. 9 is a plan view of t e clamp illustrated in Fig. 8.

Like numerals refer to similar parts in the'several figures.

in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings l have illustrated a portion ci a mine Working wherein coal lis being recovered, from a very thin vein, by the use or 'my improved conveying apparatus.

n the drawings the numeral l indicates an entry provided with the customary tracks 2 along which the pit car 3 may travel to transport the coal from the mine. in order to procure sucient head room-in the entry :for the 'convenient assao'e'o the miners neck. by which theroom communicates with the entry, and 7 is the working face from which the coal is being mined.v Suitaby `ositioned nearthe working face are a Justable jack posts :8, 9 `andlO of a type commonly used in mine practice, `having roof 'engaging members 11 adapted to. be forced 'into contact with the roof by the hand wheel nutsv 12. Attached to or mounted upon the jack posts 8, 9 and 10 in any preferred manner are sheave'wheels 13, 14 andl 15 adapted to guide the longi tudinal moving endless `haulage cable 16. 17, 18, 19 and 20 are conveyngscrapers each of which is provided with' a. towing liney 21 arranged to be connected to the haulage cable 16 by suitable cable gripping devices 22. The cable 16 extends through the room 'neck 6 and across the entry 1 to the propelling mechanism v23 ositioned in a convenient recess 24 of the mme wall.

The propelling mechanism 23 comprises an elongated base frame 25 near the opposite ends of which are mounted two upwardly extending substantially vertical shafts 26 and 27. The vertical shaft 26 is rigidly fixed to the base frame 25 and.

supports a plurality of similar, freely rotatable sheave wheels, 28 each of which is provided with a circumferential groove 29 adapted to engage the cable 16. The vertical shaft 27 is journaled inwsuitable bearings 30 and31 of the base frame, and to this shaft is fixed a drum wheel 32 upon which is iiormed a plurality of circumferential grooves 33 corresponding to the grooves 29 in the sheave wheels 28, and adapted to engage the cable 16. To'the shaft 27 is semost groove 33 of the drum wheel 32 the' cured a worm wheel 34 which is engaged by a worm 35 mounted upon a horizontal worm shaft 36. The worm shaft 36 is journaled in suitable bearings 37 and 38 of the base frame, and is connected with a suitable motor 39 by which the cable 16 is actuatedt In the drawings l have shown, for purl'josesv of illustration, an electric motor whi'chfm'ayf be actuated from any convenient source..y of electric power, but any preferred typeV of motor may be `used which is suitable to the conditions under which the apparatus is to: .be operated. Anl idler sheave 40 mounted upon the base frame 25 for rotation in a horizontal plane receives the cable 16 as it approaches the driving mechanism. From the idler sheave 40 the cable 16 passes around a tensioning idler 41 and to the lowermost groove 33 of the drum wheel 32.

The tensioning idler 41 is supported upon a base c asting 42 which is slidable in guide ways 43 of the .base castingand which is connected with a counterweight 44 by a cable 45` arranged upon suitable pulley sheavesl 46, 47 and 48 in the manner well understoodv by those skilled in the art. From the lowercable 16 passes around the lowermost idler sheave 28 and from that to the second groove meagre of the drum wheel and so on until the desired-amount of reserve cable is wrapped upon the sheaves of the driving mechanism.

From the last groove' of the drum wheel 32 I the Areturn 'strand ofthe cable 16 passes across the entry and into the mine room .5. In the earlystages of the development of the mine room, while the working. face vis near the entry, as indicated bythe dotted lines at 49`the larger part of the cable 16 willl be held in reserve upon the sheave wheels 28'and 32 of the driving mechanism. The

number of grooves available for cable stor! age, the size ofthe sheave, and the distance apart of the shafts 26l and 27 will depend upon the degree of'extensibility desired in bent along its transverse center 4line in theI form of a letter V, and adapted to rest upon one of its longer edges directly upon the mine floor. At the forward end of the scraper the ends of the plate 50are braced apartby a transverse bar 51 which is positioned sufliciently high lto permit 'the free passage .of material beneath it into the scraper. At the forward'end of the Scraper the lower corners 52 of the plate 50arerounded oila to facilitate forward movement of the scraper over the irregularities of the mine floor, and at its rear end, that is to say, at the point of` the V, the lower corner 53 is similarly rounded 'by bending the lower edge of the plate 50 forwardly. rIhis forward bending of the plate 50 also serv'es lto engage the material within the scraper to hold down the rear end of the scraper as it moves forwardly. An' upstanding fork "'54 attached to the rear end of the scraper yis adapted to engage the towing line 21 when'fit is desired to move the scraper rearwardly.

The cable gripping device 22 consists of a body portion 55 which in service preferably lies in a. horizontal "position immediately is in such forced engagement with the cable the point of attachment of the towing line 21 to the lever 60 will lie in the vertical plane of the cable 16 and the direction or" the line of draft will tend to hold the vbody portion 55 in the desired horizontal position. An extension 61 of the cam 58 projects beyond the edges of the body portion 55 and serves as a handle by which the cam may be rotated for the engagement and disengagement of the cable. i

After the coal has been broken down from the working face in the usual manner, a sufficient number of turns of the cable 16 are vdisengaged from the sheaves 28 and 32 of the driving mechanism to permit the desired extension of the conveyer. The jack posts 8 and 9 are adjusted', one at each side of the room 5, in such position that the transversely moving strand 62 of the cable 16 will be held substantially parallel to the working' face in proximity with thepile of loose material upon the i'loor of the mine. The jack post 10 is then adjusted in such position that the inwardly moving strand 63 of the cable 16 will be suiiiciently removed froin the outwardly movin strand 64 to prevent intei'erence of the inwardly cable grip 22 is released from the cable 16v ioo of its movement. 'of face of the guide sheaves 13, 1d and 15 and outwardly moving Scrapers, and at' the same time take up such portions of the slack ofthe cable that the tensioning sheaye 41 will properly function within the limits rllie diameter and width are suoli that these wheels are capable not of changing the direction of the cable` onl 16 lint also of guiding the Scrapers attached to said cable. After the jacks 8, 9 and 10. are properly adjusted a scraper is .placed in suitable relation with the material to be gathered, as shown at 1f?A inl4"ig..1, and the grip adjusted to connect its towing line to the transversely movingstrand 62 of the cable. This scraper vwill then be dragged across theworliin face 7 gatherino` loose material between its converging sidlis and conveying such material around the sheave 14 as indicated at 18 in Fig. land towards. the entry.

A steel apron 65 is provided tov bridge the gap between the floor of the mine room and the side 4 of the pitcar 3 and over this steel apron the Scrapers are drawn', as indiicated at 19 in Fig.' 1, to discharge-the material into the pit car 3. 'lo avoid the necessity of lifting the scraper out of the pit car after lit has discharged this material, the

as soon as the forward edge of the scraper 19l hasreached the forward edge oi the apron 65. The towing line 21 is then placed 'in engagement with the fork 54 and the grip 22 attached to the inwardly moving strand 63 of the cable. The scraper is then drawn rearwardly, as indicated at 20 in Fig. 1, leaving a portion of its load upon the apron to be pushed into the pit car by the material in the next advancing scraper. To insure the prope'r'disengagement of the grip 22 ll havey provided two upstanding wings 66 formed upon the base trame casting 25 of the propelling mechanism one at either side of the outwardly moving 'strand 6l of the cable. rlliese wings 66 diverge rearwardly of the cable and are. so ypositioned that they engage the flange 56 and the the stoppage of the scraper 2Ov uponv the- 'apron 65.` 'lhe grip 22 may immediately be attached to the inwardly moving strand .63 oi the cable and the tow line 21 engaged with the fork 5l to cause the return ofthe empty scraper to the working face. The

1de sheaves 15 and l13 are of such proportion that. the scraperswill be guided by them to follow the cable to the position 17 to take anew load, and the operation may be repeated ad libitum.

at l claim is: Y

l.. In an apparatus of the class described for delivering material at a predetermined point, the combination of the endless cable traveling continuously in one direction, a

scoop receptacle propelled by ,the cable,

drait `devices' detachably fastened to the cable and permanently connected to 'the said.

receptacle, and means located radjacent the roller and the sheaves for automatically rer.

leasing'said fastening devices from the cable ata point predeterininedv relatively to the roller.

2. ln an apparatus of the class described lorv'delivering material at a predetermined point, the vcombination ol an endless cable traveling continuously in one direction, a'

scoop 'receptacle propelled by the cable and its traveling longitudinally toward said delivery point and then, without reversal,

traveling lon itudinally/ away from said point, a exib e draltvldevice adapted to be optionally connected to the saidv cable and iso to be automatically disengaged therefrom y and'arranged to exert draft at the forward end of the receptacle when moving toward said point and to exert draft at the oppositev end thereof when moving in the opposite direction. y

3. ln apparatus of the class described for delivering material at a' predetermined point the combination of an endlesscable trave l .e

continuously in one direction, a.

scoop receptacle propelled by the cable andto exert draft at the opposite end thereofy 10 traveling longitudinally toward seid dewhen ,moving in the opposite direction. livery point and then, without reversal, In testimony whereof, I aflx my signatraveling longitudinally away from said ture, in presence of two witnesses.

point, a exib e draft devioejada ted to be v optionally connected to the sald -ea le and to NILS -D. LEVIN. be disengaged therefrom and arren ed toI Witnesses: exert draft at the forward end of t e re ANNA M. FENLON ceptaele when moving toward said point and v HARRY'G.' DEAN. 

